Corruption is a political, economic, cultural and moral problem and it is considered as a universal phenomenon that exists in all developed and developing countries, in public and private sectors, as well as in non-profit and charity organizations. The aim of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of corruption in relation to the economic development and growth in European countries in general and specifically in the European Economic Area, the European Union, the Euro-zone and the non-European Union countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Turkey. Our objective is specifically the examination of the relationship between corruption and per capita GDP, and between changes in corruption and per capita GDP growth rate. The survey shows that there is a strong inverse relationship between the level of corruption and the per capita GDP of almost all European countries, with the exception the non-European Union countries in the Central and Eastern Europe, including Turkey. Additionally, there is a positive linear relationship between the per capita GDP growth rate and the reduction in corruption levels for all categories of European countries.

This paper explores the relation between R&D and economic growth using data from the EU-28 countries for the period 2001-2014. We consider panel data econometric techniques and control variables commonly used in the literature are analyzed together with a number of other variables to which existing studies often give little attention. Our results suggest that R&D expenditure and the patents (European Patent Office-EPO) have a positive and significant effect on economic growth for all countries.

Plastic money is a very recent context replacing the traditional concept of paying though cash. Plastic money is a term coined keeping in view the increasing number of transactions taking place on the part of consumer for paying for transactions incurred by them to purchase goods and services physically and virtually. It includes credit cards, debit cards, pre-paid balance cards, smart cards etc. This research is typically focusing only on the use of debit cards from the elderly in order to find out the effectiveness of such cards in real life and consumers perceive them. It also presents the use of electronic wallet. Is electronic wallet helpful in every day's transactions? Can old age people find it helpful in using it? Electronic wallet accepts debit cards that are connected with the banking account which has been declared by elderly in the financial institution. It allows an individual person to purchase something at a store and enables unforgeable transactions with other wallets.

Europe 2020 is the new ten-year strategy of the European Union for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This work analyzes the role of smart growth within the Europe 2020 strategy. "Smart growth" means strengthening knowledge and innovation by improving the quality of education, enhancing research performance, promoting innovation and transferring knowledge across the EU.In this study we create a thematic smart growth index, which consists of individual indicators proposed by the European Commission and presents the ranking of EU member countries in this index. The composite indicator of Europe 2020 by Pasimeni (2011) is taken as the basis for the creation of the indicator.Then, with the help of regression models, the relationship between the index and some macroeconomic variables is examined to examine the impact of the variables on the performance of the E-28 countries and their overall competitiveness. The results show that macroeconomic indicators of public finances, such as the rate of change in GDP per capita, government debt and deficit levels, are not key success factors for smart growth.

The aim of the study is to present the usefulness of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to explore the socio-economic indicators that affect the health level of the elderly. The study uses a specially designed questionnaire to capture data on socio-economic indicators of the elderly in Grece. The results of the survey are plotted in the corresponding geographical locations on the maps, using GIS in a way that provides the person concerned a full picture of the geographical distribution of socio-economic indicators that affect the health level of the elderly. The study finds that there is an obvious proportional relationship between Sense of Quality of Life with healthier characteristics, a less proportional relationship with financial characteristics and even a less proportional relationship with the age and the education level of the respondents. The study has implications for health sector professionals and policy makers in Greece.